September 4:Stehekin, WA

We actually had to make sure we were walking by 6:45am so that we would get to the High Bridge Ranger Station by 9am. Stehekin is a very remote town, and the only way into (or out of) it is by hiking or taking the ferry from the town of Chelan 55 miles away down Lake Chelan. There are no roads in and out of town; the only road goes from the tiny town 10 or so miles out to the High Bridge Ranger Station. A shuttle runs this route 4 times a day. I've read that the cars that are hear already were brought by barge years ago. We got a ride from a guy whose truck has been here since it was new in 1962, and it only has 51,000 miles on it! We also heard that, minus the tourists, the population sits at around 90. People order there groceries from Chelan, and they are brought up on the ferry twice a month. The school here was a one room school house until the 80's, when a slightly bigger one was built. It's a different kind of life, that's for sure!

So we were aiming for the 9am shuttle bus, but we ended up hopping in the back of the 1962 truck around 8:30am and getting a ride to the Stehekin Pastry Company, which is 2 miles outside of town. It's supposed to be one of the best bakeries on the entire trail...or maybe by the time people are up here they have just been hiking for long enough it seems like the best. Either way, we were excited to be there.

We ate some food and caught the bus as it headed into town. Since the weather was nice and the forecast was looking bright (literally), we decided to save ourselves $140 and camp for free.

We spent most of the morning and afternoon hanging out at a picnic table, sorting our boxes (thanks moms and dads and Jaggers!), taking showers and doing laundry. The other half of our crew had gotten in earlier and had decided to take a second zero, so it was fun to see them again and hear about their experience in this past section.

We sprung for a dinner at the Lodge Restaraunt and then headed up to the campsite to crash, having already decided to take advantage of our last chance to zero by taking tomorrow off.

Total Miles:2574.1
Miles Today:5.1
Camp 130:Stehekin Campground Overflow

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